Being the Continuing Adventures of a Woman and her Trusty Kayak in New York Harbor, the Hudson River, and Beyond.
(with occasional political rants just to keep things lively!)

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Home Waters - Article & Movie

NOT the Gowanus Canal, although at one point I thought it was - but suitably industrial for tonight's topic!

There's lots more O'ahu visit to share, but I thought I'd just toss in a quick post about a couple of the more environmentally troubled arms of my current home waters before I turn in.

1. Newtown Creek: Interesting article in the NY Times today about our own local oil spill site, with a closing quote from a paddling friend. Not as bad as the current Gulf horrors (which has been one of those topics I can't even begin to approach because I just don't know anything to say that a hundred other people haven't already said a hundred times better), but more oil spilled than the Exxon Valdez. Click here to read.

2. Gowanus Canal: Newtown Creek is being considered for Superfund status - the Gowanus Canal already is despite Mayor Mike's attempts to fight the designation (in fact the above waterway first stood in for the Gowanus Canal back in March when I was being confused by that opposition). I somehow feel like I've fallen down on the NYC waterblogger job by never having gone canoeing there with the Gowanus Dredgers, but tomorrow night there's a less up-close-and-personal way (which many might prefer!) to get familiar with Brooklyn's famously filthy canal - head on over to Atlantic Basin & board the Mary Whalen for PortSideNY's Wednesday night Tanker Flick, Lavender Lake. The documentary starts at 9 with seating opening at 8:30 - if you aren't likely to be stuck at work catching up after an incredible vacation & felt like going earlier, you could even make a waterfront double feature of the evening by joining in with the 6 pm walking tour featuring theNorwegian-American history of Red Hook. Both sound pretty interesting, I can't get to the walking tour but depending on work & jet lag status I think I might try to get to the documentary. BTW, the Mary Whalen remains at her publicly accessible summer berth at Atlantic Basin until August 24th & there's lots going on until then, if you can't make it tomorrow, check out the rest of their summer programs here!

Well, that's all for tonight - tomorrow, back to my happy happy return to Oahu!